Children of the Dark
by The-Cosplay-Nerd
Summary: Zahra Lansing and Isaiah Herder. Two perfectly normal kids, except for two things. They both know magic, and one of them has a dark secret. {I own only Zahra and Isaiah. All else belong to Rick Riordan} {rated T for cursing and dark themes}
1. Too many stairs

It was just another nome. Right? Well. Turns out we were extremely wrong. We got teleported to the Twenty-First nome by Chief Lector Kane to study under his nephew and Niece, Carter and Sadie Kane. He thought it would be good for us, seeinng as my brother was interested in studying the path of Orisis and I was still undecided. Yet, the lovely Chief Lector Kane must've decided that our first challenge at the Twenty-First nome, other wise known as the Brooklyn House was to have to climb up five different sets of stairs. We, possibly two of the laziest kids alive, managed to struggle up the stairs, sweating and panting. We reached the top of the abandoned building and collapsed.

{Alright, Fine. Geesh. I'll do that now}

I'm sure by now you're wondering several things. One of these things is probably, 'who in Ra's name is telling this story?' That would be I. Zahra Lansing, half-Egyptian, half-American(unfortunately). One other thing might be 'Who is _we_?' Well, We would consist of My idiot half-brother, Isaiah Herder {He just said he felt hurt. Whatever}, who is, unfortunately, all American and _very_ annoying. Isaiah and I both have the same father, Ron Herder, an American scientist. My mother, Lilla Lansing, who is an descendant of Queen Cleopatra. Of course, if you listened to the Kane's recordings, you probably know that only Blood of the Pharaohs can perform magic of the gods. Well. . . . That's where Mrs. Herder comes in.

{Shut up Isaiah, I'm telling this story!}

Mrs. Herder, Isaiah's mother's, mother's, mother's, father's, father's, Ect. Ect. You know how it is, her great great great great great great great x500 or whatever's grandfather was the child of an Egyptian ruler. But the Herder's having been living in America since the 1900's, therefore they were as American as the next person on the street.

{Isiah is saying I should stop telling our lineage.}

I looked up as I heard the snapping of a crocodile mouth and shouted, jumping up as an albino Crocodile was speedily coming towards us.

"Back!" I shouted, grabbing a nearby stick and brandishing it at the animal, Isaiah yelped, jumping up and backing away, I was about to swing my stick at the crocodile's nose when a shout came from a now open door.

"Phillip!" I looked up at my savior as the crocodile made a hissing noise and backed away, before turning and lumbering off.

"Sorry about that," said the girl, walking closer to us. I pointed my stick at her, she chuckled.

"You two must be Zahra and Isaiah Lansing."

"Urm. I'm a Herder. Please . . . Don't associate me with that half of the family," Isaiah piped up, motioning at me when he said "that half".

"Isaiah, have you ever wondered how much force it takes to break a solid stick?" I asked.

"I mean, yeah, why?"

"Would you like to find out?" I held up the stick, as if to hit my brother over the head with it. Sadie was just laughing.

"You two are just like my brother and I. So, let me get this right, Zahra Lansing, and Isaiah . . . Herder?"

"Yep!" Isaiah said cheerfully. Sadie chuckled.

"If you can resist the temptation of hitting your brother over the head, I'll show you two to your rooms." Sadie turned and walked into the house, Isaiah and I stopped fighting, though Isaiah did steal the stick and threw it away. I glared at him, sticking a tongue out at him, and starting a miniature cat fight. Sadie coughed, having stopped in front of two doors. We paused, hands still in the air.

"Very professional, well trained, very serious," she said in a mocking tone, that I immediately recognized as Chief Lector Kane. I ducked my head, feeling slightly ashamed.

"Sorry," I said, Isaiah giggled.

"These will be your rooms," Sadie said, motioning to the two doors, "you can fight between the two. Or whatever, but just no magic." She gave me a pointed look. Obviously she sensed something off about me.

"Um, yeah, we don't have like any clothes, or anything," Isaiah said.

"That's fine, you'll be provided with some," Sadie said. "When you're done just come down to the lounge, I'll take you to talk to Carter, assuming you don't accidentally crash into him first."

She turned and walked away without a goodbye. When I turned to Isaiah he was already in a room, shutting it behind him. I shook my head, walking into the other room. I looked around the room. As soon as I stepped in things started materializing in the room. The record player from my room and a stack of records. My headphones and iPod also appeared on the bedstand where I always kept them and notebooks appeared also. These were all the things that had been set to be sent over whenever we got to our nome. I walked over to the bed and sat down, kicking off my high top converse and flopping back on the bed.

 _Well this is nice._ said a voice in my head that had been strangely silent since we first arrived at the first nome.

* * *

Isaiah here! I'm taking over, since the internal argument that goes on next is _Sooooo_ boring. {Ehehehehe. She's trying to punch me.}

Much as what happened with Zahra, after I ran into my room, things started appearing. Unlike the nerd next door, a regular radio with a stereo system appeared, followed by the handheld gaming console I had, and my headphones. I ventured around, going in and out of the walking closet several times to make sure I wasn't imagining things.

"Weeiirdddd" I said, going and flopping on the bed, I frowned at the strange headrest they had for a pillow, but put my head on it anyway, it definitely was _not_ comfortable, I shoved it off the bed. That's when I noticed two things. One, there was a balcony, which, admittedly, was extremely cool. Two, there was a door on the wall between our rooms. I smirked, wondering what Zhara was doing and sneaked over, pulling it open and being greeted with another door. I frowned and pushed that door open.

"Boo!" I shouted. Zhara screamed and threw the headrest at me, I ducked under it, grinning widely at my sister, who had been sleeping, and ducked back, slamming the doors behind me, I quickly locked mine and heard pounding on it.

{I have recently been informed that Zhara wasn't sleeping .. . But do I believe that? No. Not really.}

I chuckled, going and getting my handheld console. 15 minutes later there was a knock on the outside door.

"If you're ready we should go meet Carter," said the voice.

"Yeah, one moment," I answered, setting down my console and sitting up. I carefully got off the bed and walked over to the door, yawning slightly. I stepped out the door and was met with a cup of water. There was laughing as Zhara went tearing down the hall, quickly followed by a very, very angry me.

"YOU LITTLE!" I shouted, after her, dashing the water out of his eyes.

"Have to catch me punk!" She shouted, turning and tearing down a set of stairs, I followed suit, but instead I jumped and slid down the stair banister, Zhara still reached the bottom first. She spun the opposite direction then I was on and continued to run away, I followed her and we tore through a hallway, upsetting another teenager who had been carrying books, causing her to drop every single book. Zhara crossed her arms in front of her face as she crashed through a door, luckily it was a swinging door and she easily passed through, I pushed through the door and saw my sister tearing past a couple teenagers sitting on a couch, playing a form of board game. I ran past them, throwing the board pieces everywhere. They shouted at us, Zhara crashed into a door, this one, however, had a latch. She stopped, fiddling with the latch. That gave me time to catch up. As soon as she got the latch I was only four feet away, she burst in, running into it, trying to close the door behind her, I shoved it open, tackling her, there was a scream as we rolled down a few stairs. I pinned her down as we stopped in front of a table. Zahra was still grinning at me, I was dripping from the water she threw on me, she was a total mess from the tussle we had.

"OUT!" A male voice shouted, someone grabbed my shirt, pulling me off my sister, another person picked her up, and we were shoved outside, the door slammed behind us. Zahra was laughing, I however, was still upset. It was half a minute before the door opened and then closed again, everyone in the immediate area was watching them.

"You two better prove that you're worth keeping, or I'll have both of you shipped back to Amos," the voice from earlier said. We turned, I saw Zahra's jaw drop as she saw the boy in front of her. His arms were crossed and a fire burned in his eyes.

 **A/N: That was fun! Like I said. I own only Zahra and Isiah. Everything else belongs to Rick Riordan or is just simple Egyptain mythology.**


	2. Alligators, vegans and basketball

{Thank you, Isaiah, for leaving on such a lovely note. And for the record, my jaw did _not_ drop. . . . . }  
"Carter, gods I'm sorry! I didn't know they were headed into the Library, or I would've stopped them!" Said another voice, we turned and saw another boy headed towards us.  
"No. It's fine Walt," the boy I could only assume was Carter Kane said, I knew he wasn't Egyptian, but he looked it. He was tan, black hair, I swallowed as he continued to glare at us.  
"I'm sorry if we interrupted," Zahra said. "It's my fault."  
"I'm glad you admit that. Please follow me," Carter said, turning and walking away. We looked at each other. Before following in silence. I saw Isaiah looking a bit scared as we walked, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing, I reached over and touched his hand, mouthing 'I'm sure they can't harm us' to him. He nodded  
 _No, of course they can't hurt you, Carter is as useless as a mortal without Horus in his head._ I sighed.  
 _I thought you were gone_  
 _Nope, not so lucky are we dearest?_  
Carter opened a door, and I realized it was leading out onto a patio, with a pool behind it, he stood, holding the door open and waiting for us to walk through, we walked through the door, looking around, almost as soon I took a step outside, the white alligator appeared, and started running towards me, snapping at me, I squeaked, running away.  
"Phillip!" Carter shouted, snapping his fingers before saying a command word, I looked back and saw a small clay Alligator _shabiti_ behind me. My eyes widened.  
"I'm sorry, he usually isn't like that," Carter said, looking perplexed.  
 _I have a feeling he sensed me_ said the voice in my head once again.  
 _Shut up!_  
"It's fine . . . I guess. . . . " I said, Carter pocketed the clay figure, he motioned at a table.  
"Please, sit," Carter said, Isaiah, who had been laughing at me, walked and sat down, grabbing a sausage that was left on the table and started gnawing on it. I frowned at him but sat down, Carter however, did not sit down. He started walking around them.  
"I'm not going to make you do anything . . . This time," Carter said, stopping where we could both see him. "However, you two have a lot of work to do to make up for interrupting."  
"What did we interrupt?" Isaiah asked, obviously not knowing who exactly we were talking to. Carter gave him a look that immediately made Isaiah duck his head.  
"Carter!" Came a shout, we all looked around and spotted Sadie and a bunch of the other teenagers coming out, Isaiah let out a yelp as the food in front of us disappeared with a flash.  
"Stop scaring the poor kids," She said, I noted that the boy from earlier had an arm around Sadie's waist.  
"I'm not a kid," I mutter, judging I was probably Carters age.  
 _riiiighhhttt_  
I mentally flipped the voice off.  
Everyone raised an eyebrow at me before sitting down, Carter sat at the end of the table.  
"Everyone ready for lunch?" Sadie asked, there was a noise of agreement from all around the table. New food appeared, Isaiah's jaw dropped, immediately grabbing food as the others did, I regarded it all coldly, eventually finding something I wanted, I looked up, noting that I was being watched by a boy. I frowned at him but said nothing, just ate in silence.  
"Hey, Carter," the boy called.  
"Hmm?"  
"Who's the new kids?"  
"Zahra Lansing and Isaiah Herder," Carter answered in response, not even looking up. We waved. The other kids waved back. I continued eating.  
"Zahra?" Sadie said, she had been watching me too.  
"Yeah?"  
"Do you want anything more to eat?" She asked, I assumed she had noticed the very small amount of food I had.  
". . . . Some fruits or vegetables would be appreciated," I said, receiving raised eyebrows from several of the people.  
"Zahra's vegan," Isaiah explained, smirking at me.  
"Well, then don't travel with Bast," Carter commented.  
"What?" I asked with a frown.  
 _Bast, you idiot, she's the goddess of the cats._  
 _I knew that._  
"Bast will either give you grilled cheese, or cat food, take the grilled cheese no matter what," Sadie explained, the others at the table chuckled, but I made eye contact with the boy sitting beside her. We stared at each other, of course the others at the table noticed this.  
"Walt? Something the matter?" Carter asked, looking between them.  
"No. Of course not," he responded, looking away from me and up at Carter.  
 _What was that about._  
 _You and that boy have something in common._  
 _What would that be?_  
 _You are both hosts._

* * *

{So, when are you going to tell them? Alright alright! Geesh!}  
After our lovely lunch, we were led away by the boy whose name I inquired as we walked down a corridor.  
"Soo . . . Who are you?" I asked, my hands folded behind my back.  
"My name is Walt," he responded with a smile, looking back at us.  
"Where are you taking us?" Zahra asked, I noted she seemed more tense all of the sudden.  
"To the gym."  
"Why?" Her tone was harsh and defensive. Even Walt raised an eyebrow at her.  
"Because Carter and Sadie requested me to, they want to assess you," he explained, staying calm. Zahra didn't respond, crossing her arms. I sighed.  
"Zah, what's up with you?" I hissed, pulling back to walk with her.  
"Nothing. I'm fine," she said, giving me a look that said _we'll talk later._  
Walt pushed open the doors to a large gym, I immediately spotted the statues on either end. Zahra twitched slightly as we walked in.  
"You two can play basketball or whatever while you wait, I'll be just over there," he said, pointing to the benches. I nodded and went to get a basketball, when I looked back at Walt, the boy was sat, reading a book that he didn't have two seconds ago.  
"Where did?" I started, but was alarmed when Zahra hit the ball out of my hands and stole it, dribbling towards the statue, reading to make a basket.  
"Hey!" I exclaimed, running after her. I jumped up, blocking it.  
"Hehe, gotta keep up!" She laughed, her voice sounded normal, but I could tell that she was still tense.  
"So, what's up?" I asked as she tried to get past me again.  
"What do you mean?"  
"Why were you so short with Walt?" She didn't respond, faking me out and running around the other side, throwing the ball into the sundisk on top of the statue.  
"Isaiah . . . You remember how I said I was a different type of magician then you?" She asked, throwing the basketball at me.  
"Yeah, you never did explain that."  
"Well, I'm only different then you because . . . I am a host to a god."  
"WHAT!?" I shrieked, in hindsight, I overreacted, honestly, all the signs were there, I just didn't pay enough attention. I only reacted like that because I knew that gods had the potential to burn up their host, make them literally combust. {Zahra said at least I admitted it.}  
"SHhh!" Zahra hissed as Walt looked up at us, I dodged around her, running towards the hoop.  
"I can't believe it, why didn't you tell me sooner!?"  
"Because I didn't want you to worry."  
"Well, it's too late for that!"  
"Isaiah. . . Back on topic?" Zahra said, rolling her eyes.  
" . . . Fine. . . . " I reluctantly let her continue.  
"As I was saying, I'm a host . . . And I realized at Lunch today . . . That-"  
"You two ready?!" Came a shout from the doors, cutting off what Zhara was saying. I frowned at her as we stopped playing basketball.  
"What?" We turned to face Carter and Sadie who were walking in.  
"For your assessment?" Sadie asked, crossing her arm.  
"Oh. . . Yeah."  
"Alright, I'll take Zahra, you take Isaiah," Carter said. "Walt will keep an eye out in case you two are more powerful then we though."  
I frowned slightly as Sadie gave Walt a _very_ pointed look.  
"Let's go," she said, motioning for me to follow her to the other side of the court. I walked with her, glancing back at my sister and Carter, Zhara once again looking tense. We both knew that the almost all of the Kane's had been hosts for a god at one point or another, there was no knowing how powerful Carter and Sadie were . . . . Or even my sister for that matter.  
"So. Amos said you were still unsure on what path you wanted to follow," Sadie said. I nodded.  
"That's correct."  
"To start off with, this is yours," Sadie focused for a moment before reaching out, her hand disappeared into thin air. I gasped, taking a step backwards.  
"Easy," Sadie said, pulling her hand back out, a bag and two other things now clasped in it, she held it out to me.  
"These are yours," I took them, examining the curved wand and long staff, then opened the bag, frowning at the contents.  
"Wax?" He asked.  
"For making Shabiti. I will explain later," Sadie said, "but that's not important right now."  
I set down the bag.  
"What is this? Harry Potter?" I asked, waving the wand, Sadie ducked.  
"Easy," she said. "You don't know what you can do yet."  
She walked closer.  
"These are your weapons, you will use them for magic . . . And for fighting, I shall teach you a few spells no-" Sadie stopped talking, as there was a loud bang then the sound of sand swirling.  
"What in the gods names!?" Sadie exclaimed, retrieving her staff and wand and running past me. I turned to look, and gasped as I saw the area surrounding my sister and Carter swirling with sand. Walt and Sadie were both running for the cloud.


	3. Kane's VS us

{Isaiah demands I explain what happened, since I never actually got too. . . . . . }  
Like Isaiah, Carter gave me the staff and wand, but they felt odd and awkward.

"Unlike my sister, I prefer to fight with a Kopesh," Carter said, retrieving the sword from the place I was informed was the Duat, he spun it around a bit.

"Shiny," I commented, dropping the staff. Carter brought out his wand.

"So, what do you know of magic?" He asked, watching me carefully. I shrugged.

"Mum taught me a couple spells," I said. Carter motioned for me to show him. I sighed and held up my wand.

" _Drowah_ ," I said. A boundary of light flickered up between us and Sadie and Isaiah. Carter nodded. I turned to him.

"Do you mind if I?" I motioned at him.

"Go ahead."

" _Hu-Ai_!" I said, pointing my wand at Carter. He grunted as he fell backwards, but was up in a flash, responding quickly.

" _N-dah_! _Maw_!" He shouted, something flickered over him, not an avatar, but close. I let out a gasp as water soaked me through. I cursed. My wand on the ground. I held up two fingers, causing Carter to raised an eyebrow.

" _Ha-Wi!_ " I shouted. There was a red flash and bang. Carter let out a shout, flying backwards, sand engulfing us. My eyes widened as the voice inside my head started laughing.

 _Welp! You blew it  
_

Next thing I knew, Sadie and Walt were surrounding me, all ready to kill me on that spot. My hands were spread out. We all started separate spells at the same second when a voice yelled.

"Ha-Tep!" I froze. Carter, covered in sand and looking very beat up, stormed over, he took a breath, calming himself.

"You . . . Will follow me . . . " Carter hissed, spinning on his heel and walking out of the room. I ducked my head, following him out.

"Zahra!" Isaiah shouted, trying to run after me. Walt stepped in front of him, spinning him and pinning his arms around his back. I stopped, glaring at Walt and Sadie before following Carter. He walked into the Library and called for the library to empty. Three or four kids scurried out, sensing Carter was upset, he walked past a table.

"Sit," he commanded, walking to a shelf. I didn't.

"Sit." This time, I knew he would blast me to smithereens if I didn't respond. I sat down immediately. Carter picked out a scroll and walked over to me.

"Do you know why there are 365 days of a year?"

"Because Nut disobeyed Ra and had her-"

"Wrong. Nut gambled for moonlight until she had enough moonlight for five days, she had one child each day-" {admittedly I spaced out during his talk, but who wouldn't. . . .}

"Zhara Yesling . . .. . . It is apparent to me that you are a host. And not just any host. But a host to the god, Set."

* * *

{She's trying to be dramatic. We talked about this.}

Zhara wasn't the one being accused. As she left, I found myself with my arms pinned behind my back and a hand covering my mouth. Sadie paced in front of me.

"I told you there was something off about her," Walt said from behind me.

"You told me? Or Anubis told me?"

"Sadie…"

"I'm sorry. You know how difficult it is for me." That's when I took action, I spun, carrying Walt with me and managed to flip him over me, he landed on his back and I jumped backwards, grabbing the wand Sadie gave me.

"Isaiah. Just calm down, we don't want to hurt you," Sadie said, after helping Walt up.

"It sure as hell don't seem like it!" I exclaimed.

"We just nee-"

"Give me my sister back. She hasn't done anything wrong," I said, raising the wand.

"Isaiah," Walt said, "did you know that your sister is a host?"

". . . . . She told me."

"Not to just any god either. She is the host to the god Set," Walt said, watching me carefully.

"No way. You're lying to me!" I exclaimed, thoroughly shocked, because that was the one fact that Zhara didn't find necessary to share with me.

"We're not lying," Sadie said, slowly walking closer, "I've only seen two people be able to summon that much sand. Set himself. And Chief Lector Kane when he was possessed by Set."

That certainly hit me hard. Yet I was still hopeful. Maybe if Chief Lector Kane was possessed, maybe Zhara was too and she wasn't willingly going along with this. But then I thought about it seriously. Zhara has been acting too normal, and if I know anything about my sister, she is exactly the type who would easily get addicted to power. {Zhara just kicked me.}

"Please. Just put down the wand," Walt said, right as Sadie reached me, I slowly lowered it and took a deep breath.

"What will happen to Zhara?"

"Carter will talk with her, he might commune with Set to try to get him out of your sister's head."

"She won't go for it," I said.

"What?"

"She won't let you take him out. I'm sorry, but if I know anything about Zhara, she's exactly the type that would get addicted the power being a host would give her."


End file.
